German GP - Saturday - Practice Session 3 Report

Alonso quickest; Hamilton strong

German GP qualifying promises to be another gripping affair with 1s covering the first 12 cars in final practice for the German GP, the halfway point in this year's F1 World Championship.

All but the final few minutes of the FP3 hour were run ona dry track and it was Fernando Alonso's Ferrari (1:16.014) which set the quickest time, on the soft compound Pirelli tyre.

Lewis Hamilton (1:16.091) looks strong in the heavily revised McLaren, just eight hundredths adrift on the medium compound 'prime' tyre, suggesting that McLaren's 150th pole position in what is Hamilton's 100th GP, is a very strong possibility.

Sergio Perez (1:16.202) continues to underline the effectiveness of the Sauber chassis, with Kimi Raikkonen (1:16.238) also strong in the Lotus. Mark Webber (1:16.447) and Sebastian Bettel (1:16.475) were evvenly matched in the Red Bull RB8s but the Australian will face a five place grid penalty for a changed gearbox.